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ASK-THE-EXPERT

March 24, 2013What is the most effective way to improve our bottom line that doesn't entail a huge capital investment?

In my opinion if you were to improve your general housekeeping of your press room but in particular your anilox, you would be able to : Reduce Down time
Reduce Set up time
Reduce set up material
Reduce ink costs
Reduce roll replacement costs
Improve print quality
All of which will lead to an improved bottom line, but it takes a real commitment and the use of the right cleaning solution and equipment to achieve more consistent ink transfer from the anilox to the plate to the substrate. Whenever I do plant evaluations I invariably find that housekeeping is a low priority and is not taken seriously by many management teams. They claim that it is important but there seems to be little or no real accountability other than to blame the press operator. So please do take a look at your cleaning procedures and if you are not sure what to use, ask your vendors as they will be pleased to help.

March 11, 2013We are plagued with scoring on our anilox, what are we doing wrong?

After plugging of the anilox cell, scoring of the anilox surface has to be the most common issue that all printers have with their anilox rolls. Unlike plugged cells however, which can be cleaned and in so doing regain their volume, a score line in the surface of an anilox cannot be removed and in effect requires the roll to be reworked.

With this said, it is therefore paramount that everything possible must be done to reduce the possibility of scoring the engraved surface of your anilox. Notice I said "reduce the possibility", this is because a great deal of scoring comes from contamination within your ink or coating. Even if you have filters and rare earth magnets in your ink lines, it is difficult if not impossible to remove all metal, pigment/resin clumping and paper dust particles all of which can and do get trapped between the anilox and doctor blade. This will drag the particle around the surface of the roll, which can and will cause score lines of varying degrees. The irony is that you do not have to dig a groove into the surface coating to have it show up on your print, just dragging a hard particle across the surface of the anilox will change its surface characteristic, which in turn will be reflected in a different color density in the form of a light or dark line.

Doctor blade pressure and angle are also very critical. Too much pressure and too acute an angle will cause the blade to begin to wipe from the back of the blade, which increases its surface area, compounding the issue of potential scoring of contamination digging into the roll surface. You need to make sure that the blade is parallel to the anilox surface at set up, that there is no dried ink on its edge, and that the roll is inked up adequately before the blade is presented to the roll.

Too much pressure on the doctor blade, particularly plastic blades, can lead to the blade softening, which can trap hardened particles in it that, in turn, can and will lead to scoring of the roll surface. I strongly recommend that on receipt of your newly engraved anilox that you wash it thoroughly to help remove any remaining ceramic particles, and that if you chip the edge of the roll you fill it immediately to help reduce further ceramic particles getting into the ink and again getting dragged around the surface of the roll.

Remember ceramic is inert, cannot be pulled out with magnets and is very difficult to filter out, and other than diamond can cause dramatic damage to the engraved surface of your roll. So, as you can see, there are a lot of potential causes of scoring and while difficult to eliminate can be significantly reduced with a better understanding of its root causes.